


I'm making you uneasy, aren't I?

by paperowl



Series: Peter's a mess and Tony learns how to do feelings [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, If You Squint - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Irondad, Mental Health Issues, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Suicidal Thoughts, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22502314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperowl/pseuds/paperowl
Summary: Peter has a panic attack and Tony's mildly decent at looking after him (look, he's trying, give the man some credit)
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Peter's a mess and Tony learns how to do feelings [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618996
Comments: 8
Kudos: 139





	I'm making you uneasy, aren't I?

**Author's Note:**

> Fic title is from 6/10 by dodie
> 
> here I am with another sad Irondad fic. I just can't resist. Generic mental health trigger warnings, proceed at your own risk.

The next few weeks saw Peter feeling more normal. Yeah, some days he had an absolute meltdown over the smallest things. Some days he had panic attacks for hours straight, and sometimes the nothing filled him up again. But he was ok. Really, he was fine. Tony acted as though that night on the roof had never happened. May worried over him for a couple of days but was soon convinced that it was just some teenage rebellion and school stress rearing its head. Peter was glad they’d dropped the situation. He was coping fine and there was no reason to make a big deal of it. The cuts, scratches, and bruises accumulating on his body said otherwise. But he had super healing, and he wasn’t suicidal. So what was the harm? 

Of course, a day where his panic had already peaked by the time he woke up and had rapidly morphed into terror as soon as he stepped outside, was a day where he had to spend some time in the lab with Tony. Tony wanted to go over some suit upgrades and Peter was looking forward to it, or he had been. Peter had barely survived school, and he’d spent half of it hiding in the bathroom. He wanted so desperately to bail. But he knew he couldn’t, these new suit upgrades would be incredibly useful on patrol and he didn’t want to inconvenience Tony by canceling last minute. So he soldiered on.

Happy picked him up after school and Peter spent the whole car ride trying to contain his overwhelming nausea and the panic that was so strong it felt like it was destroying him from the inside out. Though Peter usually tried to put on a bit of a face for Happy, it was all he could do not to curl up in a ball and hyperventilate. They arrived at the tower and Peter got out of the car, wished Happy a good afternoon, and all but sprinted his way to the elevator, hoping it was empty. It was, blessedly so, and Peter almost collapsed on the floor, panic overwhelming him. Friday had already started whisking him up to Tony’s lab so he was cornered into quickly recovering and saying he was fine when she asked.

There was no time to compose himself or hide out somewhere for a moment to calm down, and by the time he realized he could just tell Friday to change course, they were already at the lab. The elevator door opened on Tony trying to put out a fire. It was rather small, but from the scorch marks surrounding the flames, it appeared as though that was just a fraction of the original size. Tony made the killing blow right as Peter entered the lab. Peter, unable to speak, for fear that instead of words, anxiety would come spilling out of his mouth, ventured over to his work table and set his backpack down. 

His area was thankfully outside of the scorch zone, so he didn’t have to worry that any of his projects had been destroyed. He settled down and started on his homework, dreading when Tony would realize he’d snuck in. It took Tony a good ten minutes, as he was distracted by dealing with the mess left behind by the fire, and by that time, Peter had somehow gotten even more anxious. He was shocked the stress on his body hadn’t caused him to keel over and die yet. But all it took was for Tony to say, “Oh, Peter! Where did you come from?” to push him over the edge. 

Peter leaped from his chair and bolted for the door. Thankfully his body listened, and it took no time for him to reach the elevator, Friday asked Peter where he wanted to go but he’d lost the ability to speak. She asked him again, and when he didn’t respond she said, “Tony Stark is requesting entrance.” Peter finally found his voice to desperately rasp “No, don’t.” Friday responded, “Are you sure Peter? You seem to be in a significant amount of distress.” “Yes, I’m sure.” He choked out, and after a pause, he scrounged up the words to ask her to take him to one of the floors he knew to be fairly empty and private. She obliged and he easily found a single bathroom and locked himself in, before dropping his head and sinking down the wall into a corner. He curled up and tried to stop panicking, focusing on the cold from the tiles that was seeping through his clothing.

Nothing worked, trying to breathe right only deprived him of more air, and he ended up hyperventilating more. He didn’t have any distractions around, and even if there were some at his disposal, he was too scattered for them to have done anything but contribute to the panic. He felt paralyzed by the panic, unable to move, he was just too busy panicking, his body couldn’t do anything else. He was shocked the panic hadn’t killed him yet, it would honestly be preferable to this hell. When would it end?

Peter wasn’t sure how long he sat on the floor of the bathroom (probably an eternity) before he heard a knock. Peter was stuck, he couldn’t do anything. The knocking became more frantic, “Peter? You in there?” Tony called through the door, tightness stringing between his words. Peter said nothing, barely surviving the panic filling his body.

“Can I come in?” Tony followed after a pause. Still no answer. Peter could hear Tony taking breaths, about to speak, and then aborting the words before they left his mouth. Finally Tony said, “I’m taking that as a yes.” and opened the door. Peter stayed curled tight in a ball, trying to hide from Tony, he didn’t want to be seen like this, it was embarrassing. Besides, he could deal with it, Tony had better things to worry about. Tony, however, seemed to think this was exactly the best thing to worry about.

“Friday, what’s the deal?” Tony asked, recognizing that Peter was unable to give Tony any answers.

“It appears as though Peter is having a severe panic attack.” Friday responded calmly. Tony sighed deeply and scrubbed his hands over his face. He crouched down to Peter’s level, and seemed to be searching for something on his face, Peter gave him nothing. After a minute, Tony took a break from intensely studying Peter to settle down, sitting on the floor and leaning up against the wall next to him. Tony turned his head to look at Peter and took a steeling breath. “So a panic attack, eh? I’ve had plenty of those.” Tony turned his head back and looked at the ceiling, pondering his next words. He started talking quietly, still staring upward. “Sucks, doesn’t it?” he rolled his head along the wall, glancing at Peter to gauge his reaction. When Peter continued to panic, Tony reconsidered and slowly rested his hand upon Peter’s knee.

Tony just let his thumb trace over Peter’s knee in little circles. Peter was shocked at how much relief he felt. It was something more real than anything he’d felt in ages, it was something he could hold onto. Tony had turned back to look at the ceiling, “You know, it was New York that did it. Afghanistan too. I was a mess. . . “ Tony paused for a beat, the started up again, “I don’t know why you’re freaking out right now, but in the interest of being a mediocre mentor figure, I feel like I should be at least a little concerned.” Tony quieted, and Peter focused on his presence to slowly calm him down, and bring him closer to not dying.

Slowly but surely Peter uncurled himself and breathed more easily. He met Tony’s eyes after a long bought of silence. Peter took a breath to start speaking and Tony immediately help up a finger. “Ah, absolutely not. No apologizing. It’s not allowed in my house. This wasn’t your fault, so you don’t need to apologize.”

Peter nodded shakily, though he still felt awful about it, the guilt eating away inside of him and replacing the panic. “You look exhausted, let’s watch a movie. The suit upgrades can wait.” Tony patted Peter on the knee and rose to his feet. “Come on then, it’s more comfortable on the couch. This tile can’t be good for your back.” Peter nodded dazedly and followed Tony’s lead up to the penthouse. Peter all but collapsed on the couch, curling up into a ball right next to Tony, who was already seated. Tony got Friday to turn on some Disney movie, but Peter was too tired to care. And if Peter leaned into Tony more as the movie went on, no one had to know. And not even Peter needed to know that once he’d succumbed to sleep Tony wrapped his arms around Peter, and cradled him until the end of the movie.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all like it!
> 
> Find me on tumblr, papered-owl


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